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tv   Americas Newsroom  FOX News  November 30, 2012 6:00am-8:00am PST

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>> brian: what did commissioner kelly give you when he found out about this? >> he had given me his cuff links. >> steve: congratulations. >> it's absolutely gorgeous. i'm going to have to buy a few more dress shirts to wear these. >> steve: thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> steve: more with him in the after the show show. >> gretchen: have a great weekend. we have breaking news on a fox news alert. just getting word of a train carrying toxic materials derailing in southern new jersey. emergency crews are on the scene. here is a live picture. the southern part of the state. four tank cars growing into a creek, now leaking an industrial chemical called vinyl chloride said to be highly toxic and flammable. we're also hearing 18 people so far having trouble breathing. not clear what caused this. keep it here on fox. we'll get you updates when
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we get them here. wtxf with a live picture. meantime, it is a friday morning and this is not a game. words from john bain other as we get react on fiscal cliff talks that exploded in the open. saying that it reads like a democratic wish-list and could plunge the economy back into recession. oh joy. welcome here. i'm bill hemmer. live in "america's newsroom.". martha: good morning, bill. bill: we'll find the silver lining in this, aren't we? martha: we are. bill: that is our quest. martha: i'm martha maccallum. here are the basics when they put forth through tim geithner yesterday from the president. 1.6 trillion in new taxes. that is the opening part of the deal. 50 billion in new stimulus spending. we already had a lot of backlash in stimulus in previous packages. this is interesting element here. new executive power to raise the debt limit. that is what caused so many
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of these discussions because they bump up against the debt limit and not be able to go back this. there is executive power plea to be able to do that without going back to confess. republicans are saying where is the balance? where is the spending cut side of the equation. the president said he wanted it to be a balanced deal. watch. melissa: so right now all eyes are on the white house. the country doesn't need a victory lap, it needs leadership. it is time for the president, congressional democrats, to tell the american people what spending cuts they're really willing to make. melissa: republicans have made some nice, positive noises but they haven't put their plan on the table. so we're asking them, you know, what they have got. bill: so that sound you hear, america, is gridlock. mike emanuel is live on the hill. mike, safe to assume republicans they're not happy with what came from the white house yesterday, are they? >> reporter: bill, no question about that. and clearly both sides are
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trying to draw each other out. there is clearly gamesmanship going on, trying to get details from the other side and make that side look bad. but there was a lot of optimism on capitol hill yesterday when treasury secretary tim geithner coming up for individual meetings with the top four congressional leaders. republicans were hoping that there would be a lot of details in terms of those spending cuts that you guys have been talking about but they feel like what he came up with was an old document, essentially the president's last budget plan which got zero votes here on capitol hill. so a lot of republicans are saying it is time to get serious folks. here is speaker john boehner. >> i'm disappointed in where we are and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple weeks. going over the fiscal cliff is serious business and i'm here seriously trying to resolve it. and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. >> reporter: you had senate republican leader mitch mcconnell say after a meeting with geithner that
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he considered this is a step backward. and so all the rhetoric, all the talk here on capitol hill sounds pretty pessimistic at this point, guys. bill: we heard a little bit from chris van hollen. what is the latest reaction from democrats to republicans mike? melissa: democrats say if you don't like the president's plan, republicans where is your plan? where exactly are you going to generate more revenue. they're trying to draw the republicans out to put specifics out there in terms of what cuts they want to make to entitlements, feeling like that may hurt republican argument. bottom line, house democratic leader nancy pelosi says she thinks republicans will eventually see the light. melissa: why am i confident? because it is the right thing to do. the american people expect and deserve this to happen. it is only a decision. it is only a decision to make, tough choices. there are tough choices for us. this isn't easy. but it is necessary. and i have confidence that
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my republican colleagues will see the light. >> reporter: but republican leadership aides say we had seven weeks essentially for congress and the white house to work this deal out. they have burned three three of those weeks and so there is great concern about the lack of, should we say closeness to a deal at this point, bill. bill: four weeks and counting. thanks, mike emanuel leading our coverage on that. thank you, mike. here's martha. martha: we were never supposed to get this close to the fiscal cliff. they gave themselves a ton of time to work this out. what would happen to the economy if a deal similar to the president's plan were to go into effect? fox business network stuart varney joins me right now. you listen to nancy pelosi. they made all kinds of painful concessions in order to just even put this first plan out there. melissa: look you put in place a plan like the president has proposed and it is a recipe for real economic trouble, maybe even a recession. martha, just for a second, take the politics out of this.
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consider where we're starting from. we have 8% unemployment, very slow growth and we have 3.5 billion added every day to our national debt. if you impose this massive tax increase and take away any restraint on the government borrowing of new money you're looking at potential higher unemployment, that the real danger you have runaway borrowing and set up what is called a debt crisis at some point in the future. this plan or anything like it, if it is imposed january the 1st is very bad news for the economy. martha: you know, democrats say republicans, we just saw chris van hollen, representative van hollen saying come forward, republicans tell us what you would cut from spending. perhaps republicans need to come out with something equally unpassable, perhaps but as a starting point? melissa: well the republicans have proposed they will allow, they will go for some added tax revenue, get more money from wealthy people. they have already proposed
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that. that has been flat-out shot down with the democrats. martha: because not in form of increase in tax rates. melissa: precisely. the president insists on rearranging society, redistributing wealth. that is at the core of this plan. the republicans oppose that. they're miles apart. but you take the politics out of this for a second, take negotiating out of it. if this plan, from the president were imposed or anything like it, it is terrible news for the economy. martha: we'll see what reaction is out there in the markets to all of this, stuart. thank you very much. we'll see you soon. >> how about this meeting, martha? former rivals breaking bread. it is chile, right? martha: turkey chile. bill: president obama hosting governor mitt romney for a private lunch at white house. this is the photo released by the white house, shaking hands at the oval house. they had a lunch, hour long, no media or press cameras. press press was asked about it. listen here. melissa: nothing is preventing you from speaking
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with governor romney about it. well, that is obviously up to former governor romney to decide whether he wants to have a conversation with you. and, you're welcome, when the president, next appears before you to ask him about it. we will provide a readout. but we didn't, i think they wanted to have, each man wanted to have a private conversation. they didn't want to turn it into a press event. bill: we hear that governor romney congratulated the president on his campaign and wished himself. they promised to stay in contact if there are opportunities to work on shared interest. don't hold your breath. martha: a new government report out shows americans cut back on their spending last month and saw no growth in their incomes. the commerce department says consumer spending dropped by .2% during the month of october. that is down from increase less than a percent in september. government says that hurricane sandy had a big role in that. that could very well be. it also led to reduced wages
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in the month of october. a lot of construction people along those lines could not work in the middle of all this. there will be work for them when this starts to rebuild which is some sort of silver lining there. the storm affected dozens of states with the most severe damage happening in new york and in new jersey. bill: looking to see bulldozers in some of those neighborhoods unfortunately. new tension in the middle east. this is cairo, egypt. this is the scene in tahrir square and almost nightfall. look at the crowd that has gathered after lawmakers approve a new constitution threatening to inflame already tense situation between the opposition and the heart-line government. steve hair gan streaming -- harrigan, streaming live in cairo, egypt the constitution already written. coming under sharp criticism. what do we know about it, steve? >> reporter: it is being criticized by opponents of this government. first of all people say it is a rush job. they basically pulled an all-nighter last night to write a constitution. 16 hours of debate.
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finally getting it through. there is real concerns about the role of islamic law in the new constitution. concerns about the protection of women's rights in this constitution. basically this is document written by the muslim brotherhood because all liberal members of this assembly walked out long ago, bill. bill: is there a chance that will diffuse the protests we have seen so far, steve? >> reporter: the hopes were on the president's side that this could diffuse the protests. this constitution would go to a referendum, be voted on and president morsi would give up his extraordinary powers. what we see is the reverse. it has inflamed the opposition. we could see one of the biggest protest demonstrations today we've seen so far, bill. bill: steve harrigan, thank you. we're waiting and watching for more developments out of cairo, egypt. we're coming after the moment where prayers end on a friday afternoon. so watch that story. martha: crowds in those streets. we'll keep an eye on it. we're just getting started on this friday morning, everybody. there is new information on
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the health of president george h.w. bush after he was admitted to the hospital. we have the latest how he is doing. we'll bring you that straight ahead. bill: the senate voting on a plan to prevent terror deteen east from gitmo being moved here to the u.s. and the results of what happens next with retired four-star general jack keane with his take on it. martha: and gridlock in washington. stuart varney just told us the white house's plan could send us into another recession. we'll talk to a democrat and ask why they think their plan to raise taxes will actually help the economy. melissa: the only reason democrats are insisting on raising rates because raising rates on the so-called rich is the holy grail of liberalism. the holy grail of liberalism. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again. ♪ from jammin' jerk chicken, to creamy gouda bisque.
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martha: more than a decade after the concord crash that killed 113 people, a french court clears continental airlines of criminal charges.
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the ruling blames continental and one of its mechanics for the piece of metal that fell from the plane and shredded the concord's tires but found neither were criminally responsible because it was impossible to predict that the mistake would trigger that tragic, tragic crash. continental is still responsible for paying civil penalties. bill: late last night if you missed this, the senate voted to keep the terror suspects at gitmo right where they are. they will not come here if the senate has its way. the measure will block the transfer of detainees to u.s. soil. a day of at report identified facilities in the u.s. believed to be capable housing them. senators approved the measure, 54-41. general yak keen, jack keane, is flies to see you again. melissa: good morning, bill. bill: does this mean gitmo does not close not even in a
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second term or does the president come and veto this? melissa: there i think will be pressure to try to close it which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. we have enemy combatants in there as a result of a war. the frustration is the war has gone on for a long time and therefore we should do something about these detainees. we're not making the choice for the war going on a long time. the al qaeda and affiliates are making that choice. they just burned down our consulate and killed our ambassador and forced close sure of a cia base. they're protracking the war, not us. the issue is somehow is this unfair? what is to be gained by taking the enemy combatants in guantanamo and putting them with prisoners in the military or federal system who are criminals? the people at guantanamo bay are not criminals. they're enemy combatants there as a result of a war. bill: senator feinstein argues that you have a 180 terrorists now being housed in maximum security prisons here in the u.s. but your
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point is well-taken. if you were to apprehend those responsible for killing our ambassador in libya and three others where would you take them? isn't guantanamo the best option? melissa: it absolutely is. it provides the isolation. listen all review bodies look at guantanamo through the years, believe it is highly regarded well-run facility protections the rights to anyone there. anyone been there, our detainees are treated there better than anybody in our federal and military systems in the united states. bill: democratic senate voted with kelly ayotte, republican from new hampshire. this is almost night fall. we mentioned this a few moments ago. when you look at thousands who have gathered now in tahrir square, general and you think about the stories that have been written throughout the week about what the new president, mohammed morsi has done, a member of the islamic brotherhood, is egypt the next iran that the united states now has to fear?
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melissa: well it could be. morsi frankly is consolidating power and he is squeezing out the minority, and the minorities are the christians, the liberals and secularists many of whom are in the square right now. the constituent assembly writing this constitution you referred to earlier, the liberals and the secularists and christians have long left to participate in that because they were being frozen out of the process. so it's, it is questionable the value of this document and whether it will accommodate some of the rights and social and political justices that the people in that square are wanting. bill: many people consider morsi to be moving along that line. i mean do you see it yourself? or do you see him holding back from that? melissa: well i think he is probably going to pull back a little bit. i would like to belief the administration and state department is working certainly, you know, off the media and talking to him diplomaticly about the fact that he has overreached. hopefully he pulls back.
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he does need the united states, not unlike iran who did not need us in 1980 and actually declared us their number one strategic enemy. the fact of the matter is, morsi needs our financial aid both militarily and economically. he wants the relationship with the united states. we'll see how that impacts on him. bill: that is good point. thank you, general, for making that jack keane. hope you have a terrific weekend. melissa: you too, bill. bill: 19 past the martha. martha: there will be a news conference this morning to announce one of the two powerball winners. then there is this video. watch this video. this is the man some say, like really excited because he is looking at numbers and matching numbers. we'll show you that. he may be the other winner. i love that. bill: there is a clip in there shows the numbers to the guy, do not take this ticket from me. martha: i'm saying sign it. bill: newborn babies becoming a rare site in the united states. the birth rate is plunging. what is behind the drop. martha: look at that
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bill: so this new report finds the recession is the driving force behind a steep drop in america's birth rate. pew research center shows the number of births fell 8% between 2007 and 2010. that means there were only 64 births per 1000 women ages 15 to 44. compared that to nearly 123 during the baby boom. immigrants have a higher rate than the u.s. population. they showed a 14% drop. history suggests we're heading for a turnaround. birth rates rose after the
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great depression in the '30s and oil shock in the 1970s. martha: i did my part. president george h.w. bush is recovering in a houston hospital after being admitted with bronchitis earlier this week. the 41st president is 88 years old. the hospital says this was never a life-threatening situation. president bush's family says they are relieved and this is the quote from the spokesman. we're naturally very pleased this did not progress into home soon.nd look to get dr. marc siegel, member of our fox medical a-team of course and he joins me. good morning. melissa: hi, martha. martha: they're saying this is broke kites. he had this not too long ago, right? melissa: martha i spoke to the hospital this morning. said he is very stable. had this a few weeks ago in beginning of november. he went home. developed a cough. it came back. he developed bronchitis in
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the upper airways, not the bottom of the lungs. it has not progressed into pneumonia. they are the tubes that lead into the lungs but not the lungs themselves. we have them lined like a human vacuum cleaner. we sweep out the debris. if it becomes older harder to do that. if you have parkinson's disease, 50% of the patients with parkinson's like president bush has more trouble clearing secretions. i think there may be part of the issue. he can't get well as quickly from bronchitis. once lungs get inflamed they put him on steroids he develops asthma and tubes get irray tated and you try to decrease that every sign he is getting better and doing very well. as you mentioned to me before we came on he has indomitable spirit and he is vigorous. i believe that helps people recover. martha: that's what i want to ask you about. he is such a beloved figure. he is such an incredible spirit. jumping out of airplanes up until his 85th birthday
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might be the last time he did that. how much does that contribute to his, you know, overall health and outlook? melissa: i think that's huge because he lived well. because he exercised. because he kept himself this good shape. because he has such a positive spirit. when you are after maked with some illnesses or park son you have the ability to fight it off. he wants to go home. they will send him home soon. all signs are very good that he will do well. >> hospital said with we would like to send him home today. he would like to go home but they're keeping him out of abundance of caution. melissa: we're hearing he is took well. martha: thanks for the update, dr. siegel. bill: certainly wish him the best. controversy at the u.n., folks. palestinians get a big reward from that organization. how the u.s. and israel is reacting to that move. we'll tell you. martha: plus everyone from president obama to rapper jay-z is on "time" magazine's short list for
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bill: we have new reaction this morning from the middle east after the united nations endorsed an independent state of palestine. [shouting] those are the celebrations in the streets of the west bank in gaza but the euphoria may not last because that vote at the u.n. is mostly symbolic. the palestinians still divided by competing governments, different governments in gaza than the west bank. israel keeping control of the borders. david lee miller is live in jerusalem. what is the israeli reaction to this, david lee? >> reporter: bill, here's the front page of an israeli newspaper. it says simply in hebrew, the world decided on the front page is the approximately stin president mahmoud abbas. shortly after he spoke yesterday at the united nations benjamin netanyahu
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wasted no time to say his speech was nothing but propaganda. under the u.n. vote the palestinians will become nonvoting observer state status at the united nations with borders reverting back to what was originally in place in 1967. now this resolution essentially means that on paper at least, jerusalem is going to be divided and under this resolution, the western wall, one of the holiest sites to jews, on paper be under the control of palestinians. for the most part the government reaction here is to downplay the vote. a spokesman for the prime minister says the u.n. decision is essentially no substitute for negotiations. melissa: the palestinians wake up this morning they will see nothing has really changed and the truth is nothing will change if they continue to boy scout israel and boycott peace talks. bill: israel had threatened
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heche sanctions if there was a vote. they're taking a more of a wait-and-see attitude. one of the things they want to see if the palestinians go to the international criminal court. bill: thank you. david lee miller reaction from jerusalem, thanks. martha: this is kind of interesting to think about who you would pick for person of the year, someone who has had the biggest impact, whether it is really for the good or even for the bad sometimes in these picks but "time" magazine's nominees as they have in the past, raising a few eyebrows. there is some of them, sandra flush, the former georgetown law student who became a crucial part in the obama campaign on free contraception. psy, i recently figured out who he is the south korean singer whose gangnam style song is the hugely popular. jay-z, why would he be person of the year? author of "50 shades of grey"? maybe for some people.
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comedian jon stewart is on the list. look at some people you might imagine to be a worthy position. the ma law la 15-year-old pakistani girl fought for rights in pakistan was shot in the head for simply going to school. president obama and governor romney, probably unlikely pick. egyptian president mohammed morsi. you could make a argument he is having huge impact on the outcome of the air rag rab spring. what about prime minister benjamin netanyahu or secretary of state hillary clinton? our own bill o'reilly says the lists highlights a big problem with our country. here is what he said. melissa: you can see we're living in a very shallow time in america, pardon the pun. the truth is, we have very few dynamic leaders in this country. where is abe lincoln when we need him? just like 1860 america is
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divided nation. there is culture war raging. we need someone to bring us together to solve complicated problems and stop all the nonsense. martha: michael graham, radio talk show host and "boston herald" columnist and he written about this. he joins me this morning. michael, good to have you with us. melissa: my choice is easy. martha maccallum for person of the year. martha: we're done. melissa: i'm kidding. i'm kidding. martha: i could go on and on about my huge impact on 2012. stick with what your column says. go ahead. so you want -- >> i choose bill o'reilly if we're going to do that. martha: i'm sure he will not dispute you there. he will have no argument about that. melissa: i agree with his premise. in a way it is interesting we live in amazing moment. we have $99 trillion of unfunded debt in social security, medicare, government pensions we see there we see the middle east on fire with the rising tide of the most disturbing element in the middle east, that is people who are willing to mix religion and violence together who are on the rise of the saw in egypt with the new constitution.
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yet in this moment of great import we're talking seriously about gangnam style and jay-z and sandra flush? the distance is amazing. in '90s. when dot-com boom wag going on. what is the worst that president clinton can do. this is moment for leaders. bill o'reilly is right. there is a vacuum on this list. martha: to that end what would picking sandra fluke for example, where we are and who we focus on? take this young woman and make her into one of the stars of the democratic national convention? what does that say about us as a society? melissa: well in a way she is just, political pawn or an icon for the campaign, the obama campaign ran which was a very negative campaign implying that republicans were anti-women and soft on rape and horrible things clearly not true. i like, i wrote in the "boston herald", i like
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sandra fluke is the poster girl for. consider the resume'. 32 and still in college. let's look at her life. her claim to fame, she went as 31, 32-year-old in congress someone needs to pay my bills for me. how classic is that? you have combination of self-absorption unwilling to take responsibility for her actions. she is almost a perfect pick. martha: you look at the question, ask yourself seriously who would i pick, who should you pick, is there a leader out there? is there anyone on the list that you would think would merit that kind of recognition, if not, what does that say about where we are as a nation? i looked back at some of the first ones, charles lindbergh, fdr was on the original list. there were a few names that i was not familiar with. maybe there were random picks there even in the first 10 years is there anybody who deserves it do you think in terms of impact on the year? melissa: remember, hitler
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was on the list. ayatollah khomeni on the list with negative impact. i'm serious on this. looking back at sandra fluke concept, why wouldn't a person this year i don't know how to describe them maybe, entitlement voter or entitlement recipient? people driving american politics right now are the low information voters as euphemisticly call, somewhere out there there is government that can give them their stuff. they're so afraid mitt romney would stop the stuff, and so supportive of getting stuff they followed the political chases -- choices that they made. i say that the entitlement person, being the person of the year. martha: hmmm. obviously a sarcastic pick. unlikely that is what you're going to see them to do. melissa: you want a serious one? you want a serious one? martha: -- impact on the election. he won with women. he won in a big way with young women. coargue politically she was very effective. a lot of people watched the
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democratic convention saying why are they doing this? why so much focus in that day and age with everything going on issues like contraception? you know what? turns out to have been politically very astute apparently when you look how the vote broke down. but you could talk a little bit about mohammad morsi. when you look at the arab spring because the protesters were the winners of this front page cover for having inspired this arab spring. now we're starting to see what it wrought and perhaps mohammad morsi might be a good pick in change of -- in terms of world dynamic and what he might represent. melissa: i think mohammed morsi might be international person of the year. person in america i would pick the data miner. people figured out ways to manipulate information at a such low level, narrow, pointed level they were able to in a lower turnout election, six or seven fewer
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million people out there able to cobble together the obama coalition to give him the win because they were able to target people so carefully. martha: i get what you're saying, but i don't like it when they don't pick a person. i like it to be a person. i don't like when this group or whistle-blowers. i hope they pick a person. melissa: nate silver over at "new york times", the guy who picked the election and uses that data mine technology, my second pick, seriously, bill o'reilly. go, bill, go. o'reilly for "person of the year". martha: i'm sure he will be gadd to hear you say that. it might get you a chat with him in the evening. melissa: not an issue. thanks so much, martha. martha: have a good weekend. bill: thought he was going to dance there for a minute. awaiting news conference on our top story. emergency crews on the scene of that train derailment. this is toxic chemical spill. there are several cars in the water. southern new jersey. we'll take you there live when that starts. martha: plus immigrant
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rights advocates are suing the governor of arizona, governor jan brewer. she is here in "america's newsroom" to defend herself against these latest accusations. bill: fair and balanced. we'll talk to a democratic member of the house budget committee after republicans slapped the whole fiscal cliff plan came from the white house yesterday. here's the speaker. no substantive progress has been made between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. listen, this is not a game. jobs are on the line, the american economy is on the line and this is a moment for adult leadership
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bill: there were certainly sharp new reaction from republicans to a white house plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. this is the opening play by the president. here is house speaker john boehner who says that weeks of talks have gone nowhere. melissa: two weeks ago we had very product testify conversation at the
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white house but based on where we stand today i would say two things. first, despite the claims that the president supports a, a balanced approach, the democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. and secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. bill: the speaker considers that just absolutely wasted time. kentucky democratic congressman john yarmouth out of louisville is a member of the house budget committee, sir, thank you for your time. i want to get your perspective on this. good morning to you. melissa: good morning, bill. bill: republicans are not happy. what would you say to your colleagues there? they're charging none of this addresses the problem and the problem they believe is not taxes, it is spending? melissa: well, i have heard that from a lot of my colleagues and i heard that day after day after day from my senator mitch mcconnell. no, the truth is we have a problem on both sides of the
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ledger. bill: that is an issue. that usually doesn't happen when you're talking from new york and washington, d.c. now why it just happened i'm not quite sure but somebody has to punch the button where we were before. are they going to do it? i don't think so. martha: this is what we call stretching. to try to figure out whether we can get the signal back. but i think --. bill: our regrets to the congressman. we did not want to cut him off. that was not our intention. we'll hang with it a couple seconds here and you can look at martha for a second. martha: hello. bill: why we see whether or not it comes back. i do believe he is here. congressman out of louisville, sir. good morning yet again. you were saying there? melissa: well i was saying we have a problem on both sides of the ledger, a spending problem and revenue problem. revenues running 15% of gdp which is low percentage of the economy as it has been in 60 years. we're still having, we have lower revenues today than we did in 2008.
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so we do need to boost our revenues as well as work on our spending problem. bill: on that point, and on that point, on spending, ale apparently pubbing says he hasn't proposed much when it comes to cuts. in fact, $1.6 trillion in new taxes on the screen quickly. $50 billion in new stimulus spending. and also expanded powers to raise the debt limit anytime the president wants. now, does that address the problem? melissa: well, i mean would it address the problem? so the fiscal cliff would address the deficit problem. it is $5.5 trillion to the deficit. nobody wants it to happen. you know, the interesting thing about the president's proposal, i disagree with the stimulus spending being included. i support stimulus spending but that is kind of an extraneous issue right now. the cliff is basically the expiration of the tax rates and the across the board spending cuts of about 9% across defense and all domestic spending. that is the fiscal cliff. we shouldn't be dealing with
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other issues that are long term in order to avert the cliff as it were. that is immediate crisis. we have long term situation --. bill: but you know when lawmakers get a little bit of rope, you know, when they get time to think about it and push it off to the next year, it never gets done. this budget proposal, there are many who wonder whether or not even democrats could support it. the last budget that came from the white house went to the senate, it went 98-0 against it. no one voted for it. melissa: well, that was kind of a tricky parliamentary issue as well but, i do take issue with one thing, the idea we haven't dealt with entightments. we had two years, a year and a half we debated medicare. we made significant changes in medicare. we just had a campaign which republicans including governor romney time after time after time charged that we had cut $616 billion in spending out of medicare and we reformed the program. we have looking toward new ways to compensate
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providers. long-term guaranties how to hold cost increases down. anybody who says we haven't dealt with medicare is ignoring a very substantial debate that took place. bill: let me ask you a simple question then. do you believe that we can tax our way out of this? melissa: no, i don't believe we can tax our way out of it and no democrat has ever proposed that. all we're saying it has to be balanced approach. when revenues are down to the lowest point they have been in 60 years, corporate profits, we saw in the third quarter, all-time record, over the last, couple of years, 93% of all the income growth in the country has gone to the top 1%, if we can't look to those sources of revenue in order to help balance the budget and reduce the deficit --. bill: cut our way out of it you admit publicly the republican colleagues said we can raise revenues, just how you do it. i have one more question because this is what people want to know.
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december start this is weekend. how far apart are the two sides? are you even close? melissa: no, i don't think we are close and it is a shame because we agree on a number of things. mainly we don't want taxes to rise for 98% of the american people and 97% of small businesses. we could solve that part of the cliff problem in an hour. there are ways we could proceed we have total agreement on. bill: we're waiting. melissa: unfortunately there are a lot, there is lot of garbage being thrown into this package. bill: john yarmouth, thank you tore your time. melissa: my pleasure, anytime. bill: congratulations to your victory over rutgers. melissa: thank you, bill. bill: a lot of people happy over that. john yarmouth, democratic congressman from kentucky. here's martha. martha: this might be the best videotape of the day. caught at a convenience store. this gentleman walks up there he sell whoing at ticket, he looks at numbers, compares the numbers, to the big huge lotterry jackpot. a live report what we have now learned about the powerball winner in missouri
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who is about to come forward. watch. ♪ .
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martha: we're just hours away from confirming who holds one of those two winning tickets from this week's massive powerball jack polt. a news conference will happen in missouri. we're getting some clues who the other winner may be as well. mike tobin on that story for us live in chicago. i like this one. good morning, mike. >> reporter: i like it because you usually hear about lottery winners keeping their cool, talking with a lawyer and financial manager and staying
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underground until they claim the prize. final which we have video of acting the way you would act if you won the big prize. out of maryland. pay attention to the man in yellow road crew gear. he checks his numbers and starts to freak out. i wouldn't do this, but he hands the ticket off to the clerk and other people in the store to verify he wasn't seeing things. he walks out of the store still acting like he was spiking the football. the people in the store say, indeed this guy had the numbers. martha: oh. melissa: he couldn't believe it. he was he can tactic everybody to look and see he wasn't seeing things. he wasn't seeing things. it was the right numbers. melissa: i heard him say he won. give me the ticket. did i really win? it was arizona ticket with the numbers on it. >> reporter: he drove off the lot and wrecked his car. i'm kidding. he drove off the lot and then he went underground. the ticket was bought in maryland and he has got to claim it in arizona. presumably he is on his way
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back to the grand canyon state right now. martha: wow! i love the video. i love how he is walking around looking at it again, walking around looking at it again, shows it to another piece. you're right, i don't think we've ever seen video at moment somebody is discovering their numbers match up. it is so fun. what about the other winner, missouri is where that person is, right, mike? >> reporter: we should know exactly who the individual is because the missouri lottery will hold a presser in two hours time. that being said a womanning to be the winner's mother and son have been both speak to local news. they say the winner is 52-year-old mark hill of dearborn, missouri, outside of kansas city. his wife by the way has been unemployed. had a job interview scheduled for yesterday. she canceled. didn't shoup. possibly, yeah, possibly because she will claim 385 million divided in half after taxes. before taxes, pardon me, if
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she does the cash payout. guys? martha: we'll stay tuned for that. mike, thank you very much. bill: didn't quite give it to him. are those the numbers? martha: what are the numbers? match them up for me. bill: republicans say the president's plan does not stand a chance and today he is taking that pitch on the road. why the former house speaker newt gingrich says the plan is just a flat-out bad idea. open enrollment ends friday, december 7th. so now's the time to get on a path that could be right for you... with unitedhealthcare medicare solutions and plans including aarp medicarecomplete, insured through unitedhealthcare. call today to enroll. these medicare advantage plans can combine parts a and b, your hospital and doctor coverage... with part d prescription drug coverage, and extra benefits... all in one complete plan... for a $0 monthly premium. no more than what you already pay for medicare part b. other benefits can include
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martha: taking the fiscal cliff fight on the road now, president obama going to the public with his message today as the clock ticks down on what some lawmakers are calling a potential economic disaster. that is how we start a brand new hour on that sunny thought on a friday morning in "america's newsroom." good to have you here. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. are you doing okay? martha: i'm doing great. bill: second hour here. president obama putting the heat on republicans supporting plan to allow
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taxes to rise on higher income earners. after days and weeks of meetings with no progress, republicans say he is not meeting them halfway. warning now we're in more danger of that fiscal cliff. melissa: i'm disappointed in where we are and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple of weeks. i'm here, seriously trying to resolve it and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. melissa: the president has made clear from the start that he understands that he will not get every item in this proposal or in his budget proposal that compromise requires tough choices from all sides. martha: hmmm. not boeing that well so far it looks like. is there any hope that we will get a deal in the next several weeks before it is too late? peter doocy is at the white house. peter, what is it about the president's proposal that republicans specifically, you know, don't like? that is to put it mildly i would say at this point. >> reporter: and, martha, plain and simple,
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republicans think the $1.6 trillion in new taxes is too much and $400 billion in spending cuts is not enough. they sent treasury secretary tim geithner over to capitol hill yesterday to tell lawmakers what the white house wants. part of that irproposal is a new multiyear stimulus that will cost at least $50 billion in fiscal year 2013 but the cuts are not proportional to the new spending so republicans are holding up a stop sign. melissa: revenue is on the table but revenue was only on the table if there were serious spending cuts as part of this agreement. it has to be part of the agreement. we have a debt crisis! we're spending too much! while we're willing to put revenue on the table we have to recognize it's the spending that is out of control. >> reporter: the white house also wants a permanent, unlimited debt ceiling increase but speaker boehner saying if they want that, they will have to attach some significant spending cuts. right now they have not
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according to the speaker. martha: seems like we're very far apart on those really significant points at this point. so, now that the republicans, peter, have basically proclaimed, they think this deal is nowhere so far from the white house, do we expect a counter from the white house or something from the republicans first? melissa: not today, martha. the white house's reaction so far just has been to say that the only thing holding up a deal so far is congressional republicans who refuse to raise tax rates on the rich. melissa: this doesn't have to be a cliffhanger. president has his pen poised to sign a middle income tax cut. it has already passed the senate. house democrats are prepared to vote for it. we urge other republican colleagues in the house to bring middle income tax cut to the floor. >> reporter: later on today president obama will say that any deal reached in congress must include increased tax rates on the
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wealthiest americans. he will say that at a factory in hatfield, pennsylvania, where the company connects, makes tinker toys. that is company the white house picked for today's event because they rely on the middle class consumers who would be affected if we go off the fiscal cliff. martha. martha: that will be a major sticking point it sounds like. peter, thank you very much. bill: so what happens if your taxes or to your taxes if lawmakers don't strike a deal? the tax policy center says that 90% of the americans would see a tax hike next year in 2013. it says 121 million americans will be paying more in payroll taxes, and families making between 40 and $65,000 a year, will pay an extra $2,000 to the government. that starts in 2013. martha: some say that they're concerned that what happens in europe could also happen here down the road. look at europe's economy down the road. 11.7% unemployment. that is another record high in the month of october. breaking that down, it is
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18.7 million people out of work across the 17 eu countries that use the euro. spain and greece have the highest jobless rates. 25% is the unemployment rate in spain and greece with youth unemployment levels, look at this, almost 60% in spain and greece. bill: good luck with that, huh? what a future. debate now underway on capitol hill where the house is set to vote on the republican immigration reform bill. if it passes the stem act would get rid of the lottery system and reallocate 55,000 green cards that people with advanced degrease with science and engineering. doug mckelway live on the hill with the story this morning. this bill failed in september. why are republicans bringing it back now? >> reporter: bill, it failed back in september because it was brought up under suspension rules which requires 2/3 majority so it failed. it is coming back today under normal house rules which require simple majority and republicans are
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very confident after they that he have they have the votes of after the election results of november 6th they need to show strong advocacy of immigration. here is one of the strong supporters of the bill, raul labrador of idaho. melissa: at the same time we don't need to change our agenda. too many republicans say we need to abandon our agenda and become a different party. washington clearly doesn't need two liberal parties. >> reporter: it would do away with what is called the green card lottery, which gives 55,000 cards randomly selected by computer people from country with traditionally low immigration rates to the united states. that means mostly africa. it would replace it with 55,000 green cards with immigrants in advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. most importantly it would allow the immigrants to bring their families to the united states, thereby preventing the brain drain
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that many high-tech companies see as i am my groonts head back to their home countries to be reunited with their countries. democrats think it is unfair they're picking winners and losers. melissa: aren't they just as valuable? aren't they just as worthy? don't they make america the great nation it is? why do we always pick winners and losers? almost the republicans didn't pick up the lesson from the last election. the lesson from the last election. be fair. doesn't toy with immigration policy. don't pit one group against another. >> reporter: we expect a vote in the house perhaps at noon or at that time. senate face as much dimmer future. democrats see immigration as their issue. they looked at the census with declining birth rates for caucasians. rising birth rates for immigration. they don't want to cede any ground on immigration to the republicans. bill: doug, we'll watch
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that. a bit later this hour we talk to arizona governor jan brewer. she is now being sued to denying driver's licenses to these who qualify under the president's immigration policy she is defending her decision. we'll talk to her about that in 25 minutes. martha: some alarming new developments are happening in north korea. look at these new satellite pictures that reportedly show that north korea may be planning to launch a long-range rocket and the reports are that it could happen as soon as over the next few days. greg palkot with more from our london bureau on this. greg, what is happening? >> reporter: martha, we've been tracking this very closely over last couple days. new satellite imagery showing a lot of activity at a launch site in the northwestern corner of north korea. the latest pictures showing two vehicles which apparently brought two missiles, two stages of a three-stage missile to that site as well as other activity like fuel tanks
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being filled, began tries being put in place. all this the same kind of action we saw when we were in north korea in april for the last attempt by that country for the country to launch a long range ballistic missile. north korea says it is for peaceful purposes. they want to put up a satellite. washington is concerned what they want to do is put up a nuclear payload in range of the united states. the country does have nuclear war ahead. that april launch ended in april but i'm told by a aerospace expert i value highly if this kind of activity continues on the ground in north korea as we've been watching they could be ready for a launch as early as next month, martha. martha: how likely is that to happen? >> reporter: there are a lot of political reasons for it to happen. the kim jong-un, the new young leader is yet to be totally proven. south korea, its rival had a elections later in december. they're trying to launch their own rocket at this very moment. late in december also the
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first anniversary of the father, kim jong-il, a new term, a re-election for president obama. pongyang has been banned from conducting these long-range missile tests by the u.n. and by the united states and that is another reason they want to test it. there are reasons against it. there are some logistical reasons. launching in december is difficult. again i'm told this could be a go. back to you. martha: going to get the attention of a lot of people with that for sure. that may be part of the motivation. greg, thank you very much. bill: 10 minutes past the hour and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said to have laughed out loud at the plan the white house brought to the hill yesterday. so today the president takes his plan to avert the fiscal cliff straight to the voters. with we'll talk about that. melissa: what's happened right now is the republicans are surrounded by the news media and democrats who are creating an artificial standard, basically saying if you don't sell out on taxes you're bad people. bill: so what's up with that we wonder? fair and balanced debate.
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great panel on that coming up. martha: the fbi is launching a new effort now we're being told, some wondering what has taken so long, to try to get answers into what happened in that attack that killed four americans on september the 11th. congressman jason chaffetz is here live on that. what it could mean this fbi angle for the investigation. bill: also this town hall turned ugly. these are victims of superstorm sandy. why they are mad and who they are demanding answers from now. melissa: you sit there. you guys are a joke. you guys are a joke. you go home for the holidays. i don't. but you sit there with a smug smile. you know what i wish it was election, it if it was election time you would be worried about the election and not about the people. time to get up and fight for the people. [applause] , remember -- you can stay in and like something... or you can get out there and actually like something.
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bill: well the tempers, they certainly flared. this town hall meeting for
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hurricane super sandy victims in staten island, new york. that room packed with several hundred people. they all lost their homes in that storm but, what was supposed to be just a regular discussion quickly erupted into outrage. watch here. melissa: we are the people. we're the middle class and we're getting a finger. you were there when i met obama and i told president obama, you told us you were going to cut the red tape. and i told him, the middle class is getting royal finger. and what did he say? fema works for me. fema ain't doing nothing still. they keep going around in a circle. they go, denied. denied. but you called them up. we're still looking at your thing. it's a joke. you need to take action and be real. get those government property, get the trailers there so everyone us can be -- [cheers and applause] bill: that man speaks for so many who are still suffering. martha: that is for sure. bill: many people say the recovery effort is at a
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standstill now. most of the area looks the same today as it did when the storm happened. we mentioned this earlier. for a lot of folks here, you're talking bull dozers going through their neighborhoods and taking down homes much like parts of new orleans. martha: a lot of people literally have nowhere to live. they talk about trailers they want to see, to have hot shower and electricity is what they need for right now and to get some help. a bad situation. all right. talk about this now for a moment. the fbi is launching a new international effort we're hearing to get answers on the benghazi terror attacks that happened more than two months ago and four americans lost their lives on that night including our u.s. ambassador. fbi officials are using facebook and the internet we're told to see if they can find any leads who was involved. this poster is trying to solicit information as well. the fbi began searching for those responsible we were told immediately after that attack. we know there was a video said to include some of them
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perhaps. i'm joined by utah republican congressman jason chaffetz. he is on the house government oversight and reform committee. good to have you here this morning. >> good morning. >> is it any relief to you to hear the news that the fbi is doing social media outreach to look for clues what happened that night? melissa: i want the fbi to pure you associate lead and i will applaud that but it has been months since the people were killed, since we had four people were murdered. it took them weeks to get to benghazi to secure the compound and scour the place for information. i don't sense the urgency from the administration to get after this. they give it the lip service but look at actions. these people are killed. takes weeks to get to benghazi. we're months after the fact. now they're going up on social media. remember, ansar al-sharia was reported two hours into the attack itself claimed responsibility on social media. that is something we should have been pursuing right at the get-go.
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martha: you would think, obviously this is an intel on the ground issue. we have no longer the presence we had on the ground there because we don't have that outpost anymore that we once had. that what we learned that those cia assets were in part there to sort of try to track down perhaps shoulder-fired missiles that went missing africa introduce if i was taken out of office there -- gadhafi was taken out of office. there are a lot of questions about ongoing operations that may be sort of simmering in that area and you don't have a good feel for how well they're progresses with any of it. melissa: no. if you remember there was somebody detained. i believe turkey was involved. martha: that's right. melissa: the person was in tunisia. it took senator graham to make a phone call to actually open up the lines of dialogue to get in there to go talk to them. thank goodness for senator graham for doing that. makes you wonder why a republican senator has to make the phone call and why
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the administration isn't already on top of that immediately pursuing that type of thing. martha: we haven't heard the president talk a lot about how this investigation is going either. do we have the sound bite you guys susan collins the other day? let's play that. this is after she spoke with u.n. ambassador susan rice. melissa: i believe that the white house asked her to come on because they felt that she would emphasize the points that the obama administration wanted emphasized. i walked out of the meeting with a profound sense of disappointment. martha: hmmm. melissa: those are pretty strong words from a senator who is known for not necessarily towing the party line. i think she is viewed as much more independent. that is assessment a lot of people are coming from. for me what was telling the president was at the press conference and the president said, essentially, don't pick on ambassador rice.
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she didn't know anything about gaziano. why did the administration put her out there as the spokesperson what ended up being misleading the world on what really happened in benghazi? it is just every single time we go down this step it is bungled and begs more questions than it answers. >> how do you think we're doing with the investigation? we were told we wouldn't really hear anything about all of this until after the election which some people thought was too bad. but now we are after the election so when do you think we will get some answers on what they know? melissa: remember the administration -- >> remember the administration's first response weill do the 60-day investigation and not release any information. chairman issa, myself, trey gowdy and others we held the hearing. what happens the administration starts to leak other documents because they know they're behind in this communication. so the administration owes us in the congress lots of documents, unclassified documents that we've asked.
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i sent my first letter over to them september 20th. that still has gone unanswered. we're to the point where we will have to start issuing subpoenas because the administration is just totally nonresponsive. martha: we'll see. congressman chaffetz, thank you very much. good to see you. melissa: thank you. bill: so the immigration debate have gone to a new level where activists filed a lawsuit against the state of the arizona. why they argue a new policy preventing young immigrants from getting a driver's license is against the constitution. well governor jan brewer is here to defend and explain her position. we'll talk to her live. martha: plus random act of kindness that was caught on tape in times square. why so many people are paying so much attention to this young police officer and this homeless man. melissa: i tried to offer him to buy him a pair of socks and he said, no, officer, but god bless you, thank you for asking. when i seen something like that, you know, here it is freezing cold out and he has the heart to say god bless me, and i just knew i had to
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help him.
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tri. bill: so the issue of same-sex marriage before the supreme court today. the justices meeting privately to talk about whether or not they will hear arguments on a number of cases that could ultimately define marriage under federal law. william la jeunesse following this story out of los angeles now. william, what's happening today? good morning. >> reporter: well is the federal law that defines marriage as a union of a man and woman constitutional? the nine justices today will decide if they want to take that case up this spring. now there are 10 pending cases involving gay rights before the court. eight involve challenges to the defense of marriage act known as doma. it bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, and, it says one state does not have to recognize the same-sex
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marriage of another state. it was signed into law in 1996 but then president clinton, it was passed by large majorities in both houses including large margins of democrats. president obama was before the law before he was against it. but now the administration is pushing the supreme court bill to overturn doma as well. already two lower courts said the clause that bars same sex spouses from receiving federal benefits like social security, survivor benefits, insurance, violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. that is why observers say it is very rare that the high court would allow these lower courts to strike down an act of congress without weighing in which is why many expect them to take one of the doma cases up this spring. bill: is it possible they could take up another similar case? >> reporter: it is. there are two other cases involved. let me tell you what those are. 9th case california's controversial proposition 8 when voters overturned the state court riling that
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allowed gays to marry. the 10th case comes from arizona where they are challenging a law state took away health benefits of domestic partners of state workers. it's possible that the court could take those up as well, bill but most think they will take a doma case up. we'll find out, maybe today, probably monday. bill: interesting. william la jeunesse, thank you. live in l.a. watching that story for us. martha? martha: in syria people are losing access now to the outside world as fighting continues between rebels and government troops. a paralyzing situation. we're live in the middle east. bill: also immigration, health care, two of the biggest stories and they're both happening in the state of arizona. governor jan brewer is here to defend some of her recent decisions live. we'll talk to her in a moment. i'm only in my 60's...
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i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans,
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it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and you never need a referral. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. martha: fox news alert out of the middle east. new attacks in syria's capitol as rebels of battling the government troops there once again from the ground and from the sky. the situation is becoming so out of control that other countries will need to be involved in some way. it's one of the big questions
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right now here. rocket fire sending people on the run. and now the news that the internet and telephone lines remain cut now for a second day. we know how much the internet has helped to fuel so many of these uprisings that we've seen in so many of these countries. they want to cut that off now. the black out is the first to hit the country since syria's 20-month-old uprising began. conor powell is live in jerusalem covering this story for us. does it appear the rebels are advancing on the capitol at this point? >> reporter: two information developments. the first is that since the start of this year nearly two years ago planes have been flying in and out of the international airport just outside of dam r-frplt the main road into the airport was closed because of heavy fighting and the runway was hit by mortars. there is evidence that rebels are pushing into the area that was firmly controlled by government forces not too long ago.
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the government says the airport is up and running again and the road is open. both emirates air and egyptian air have stopped flights in and out of the damascus airport. they don't believe the airport is completely safe. for the second day in a row the government has turned off the internet. that is according to rebels who say that yesterday some time the bashar al-assad regime turned out the mobile phone communications and the internet. the bashar al-assad said no it was in factor reuss that turned it off and they are working to restore it. either way there does seem to be something happening in the bashar al-assad regime and we are not sure exactly what it actually is. rebels appear to be moving closer and closer to damascus, martha. martha: we'll watch it. conor powell in jerusalem, thank you very much. bill: back here at home now the immigration battle is heating up in the state of arizona. immigration rights advocates suing the governor jan brewer for denying driver's licenses to
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those who are haoeur here illegally but qualify for a presidential order that allow them to stay in the u.s. >> your folks have been granted the right to live and work here. they cannot drive to school or work, as a policy matter it makes so sense, it's counterproductive. bill: the person at the center of this is with me now, arizona governor jan briar. good mornin brewer. welcome to "america's newsroom." >> it's good to be with you. bill: what do you say to those detractors on this position. >> it's the law in arizona. we are upholding the law passed by the legislature. the law was passed here in arizona that illegals could not obtain a driver's license in the state of arizona, and that took place probably, oh, maybe in 1996, so it's been on the books for a long, longtime, so the people of arizona have declared -- bill: in june the white house announced a new plan if you were
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here in the u.s. before the age of 16, and you are younger -rpb the age of 31, and you've been here at least five years you can stay. that is the broad outline of his proposal passed over the summer. what you're arguing is that the law of the land in arizona if you're illegal you don't get the same rights as those who are legal, correct? >> right. i mean it's the state that licenses -- the state is the one that licenses the people to be able to drive on the streets. it's not the federal government, and we don't license kids under 16, we don't license dui drivers, and our laws are very clear. i took and oath to uphold that. so, you know, i'm not surprised that i'm being sued, but that is the law and i'm going to obey my oath of office. bill: we will see where this goes as it works its way through the courts. are you aware of what the house is considering today, republicans in the who is on
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immigration the alter the green card program to allow those with advanced degrees to get more green cards? if you are up to speed on it, do you support it? >> i am not up to speed on it. so i would defer my comments on that until i did hear a little bit more about it. bill: understood. on healthcare now, you are one of 17 governors who will not set up a state-run health exchange program that was part of the care the obama care, you said this decision not to set up an exchange is the most difficult position o decision of your political life. >> being in office i've had to make a lot of decisions. this is difficult, we have to address this issue. we have to make sure that healthcare is affordable and accessible to those who need it and make it easier for them to obtain. with the affordable healthcare
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act and in regards to the health exchange it simply is too expensive and it will not be a state-run exchange, the federal government virtually will have all kind of input into it an oversight moving in and it's far too expensive moving forward. here in arizona it cost us between 27 million and $40 million a year to implement it and keep it going. so -- bill: you're discussing a lack of flexibility and expense that could run $40 million per year for people who live in arizona. what do you mean how you would have little flexibility in the program? what would washington tell you to do that you don't think is acceptable? >> well, we don't know. we don't even know what is acceptable at this point in time. we still don't have answers to the questions that we need to really know to see how it's going to impact our budgets here in the states. we do need flexibility, in arizona particularly. we have a medicaid program here
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in arizona that is probably the model for the country, it's called access, and we have waivers. we don't know if we'll be able to obtain some more waivers to help us get through this. it's a terribly expensive process. we decided that we are not going to begin this and go down the path starting with the health exchange. we know that the affordable healthcare act is law of the land and we'r we are we're going to have to deal with that. in the meantime the state exchange not take place in arizona, we'll light of up to the federal government to implement it in a manner that is acceptable to the people. bill: you're one of 17 states that are rejecting this at the moment. jan brewer, governor arizona. thank you for your time today. >> thank you, bill. martha: this is a really special story that comes to us out of new york city where a police officer was photographed helping a homeless man on a frigid night
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in times square. anna coiman is live in new york with more on this story. i understand you spoke with this officer. >> proud to say that i was able to. officer larry deprimo using his hard earned money bought the man heavy socks and boots. this going viral after being posted on the nypd facebook page. 10,500 users have liked it. not only did the 25-year-old police officer purchase the best boots in the store he's seen putting them on the man. he said it's the least he could do. >> he was an elderly gentleman. his hands were shaking. i knelt down and helped him put the socks and the boots on and he started walking on his way. it was a great moment for the both of us. >> a tourist capturing the
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touching moment. >> he did not see us, he did not see me an had boots in his hand and i heard him quite clearly say, i have these size 12 all weather boots for you, let's take care of you. and the gentleman sat down against the wall, and i'm telling you his face lit up and he smiled. >> what a neat moment. for the deed new york city police commissioner ray kelly giving officer deprimo special cufflinks. the officer says they should be in a glass case somewhere but he tells me he wants to carry them around for a while because he can't stop staring at them. martha: what a nights story. what does he think that we should all take away from his act of kindness. >> officer deprimo is becoming the face of the holiday spirit, he says it's humbling and shows the importance of giving to the less fortunate. >> all i did was buy a pair of boots. i think the biggest thing if we could take it away is it's people helps people. that's the biggest thing we can
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all take away from in. >> officer deprimo keeps a receipt from a coffee that he bought for the man in his bulletproof vest signifying even when things are stuff it is tougher for others. martha: it didn't take a lot of pre thought effort on his part. it's seizing the moment that was there. a very, very good story. bill: cool stuff, this time of year. i have a baud dewho says when he sees a homeless man he picks him up, puts him in his truck and drivers him to the diner and buys him lunch. martha: that is a nice thing too do. it's cold out there right now. we have more homeless people in new york city, which is a sign of what is going on in the economy. bill: the nypd the reason why they call them the finest. president obama is back on the road trying to sell his budget plan to the american people. what he's offering up that some republicans say is absolutely
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absurd. fair & balanced debate on that in a moment. martha: a secret santa handing out 100-dollar bills to strangers, why he's doing that coming up. >> thank you very much. thank you. rocco is my name. >> god bless, rocco. >> very nice. we've all been volunteering for weeks now. for someone to give something back to us, it was a surprise.
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bill: breaking news on iranian sanctions coming out of the u.s. senate, in a vote of 94-0 a proposal just passed that would tighten tougher restrictions against certain iranian economic sectors, including its ports, and its ship building. apparently the sanctions would ban presentation metal transfers or any sales thereof to iran. the white house is against this measure. it says it does not provide them with sufficient flexibility and waiver capabilities, but 94-0
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coming in from the senate only moments ago. we will watch that story as the nuclear program moves forward. martha: president obama takes his plan to sell the fiscal cliff remedy on the road. first he heeds to pennsylvania where he will push for raising taxes on those who have an income above $250,000, that was one of the centerpiecess of his campaign, and he hopes to carry that through in remedying the fiscal cliff issue. newt gingrich says that he believes that plan is all wrong. >> i think there are a lot worse things than going over a man-made cliff that i think is entirely artificial, and i think that the reality is the president of the united states has not come forward with any serious spending cuts. what the democrats are proposing is to take the tax increase now and then some time next year eventually, possibly remight have some kind of entitlement reform, that is a really bad deal for the american people. martha: what do the american
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people think about all this? let's try to sort of get into the heads of people who are receiving all of this out there, juan williams joins me now, fox news political analyst, and mary katherine ham editor at large, and a contribut fox news contributor. yesterday republicans were flabbergasted and senator mcconnell laughed out loud when he heard this plan. what do you think the reaction of the american people will be. >> the american people are of a mind that the taxes should go up on the top 2%. they remain optimistic. i think people see it as a process and for the most part are saying, you guys in washington need to make a deal and remain somewhat optimistic about it despite the inner struggles that we see being played out right now in washington. martha: mary catherine do you think people care that there wasn't a whole lot of balance in this proposal, that there aren't really dramatic spending cuts
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that were supposed to be sort ever the ying and yank of this proposal? >> i would argue that this deal that was put forth by geithner is both unbalanced literally and a little unbalanced that way as well. this signals to me almost that they don't want to make a deal, that the white house has decided that it's politically advantage just not to do want. you've got 1.6 trillion in tax hikes and unlimited credit card on the debt limit in that congress has no control over that any more. i just think it's insane. we've got $50 billion in new spending in this deal and to think that republicans would take that deal for some amorphous promises in the future, that never happens. i'm a good bulldog, go dog, and this is like me going to the alabama crimson teurbgs d erbs and saying before the championship you give me four touchdowns in the fcc champions and we'll talk later about you riding on the bus with us to the national championships, nobody is taking that deal.
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martha: i like that analogy. i think what it really boils down to is the administration sort of is surmising that people really don't care about the debt. what we saw in a lot of the polling heading up to the elections is that they do and they want them to get serious about it. this doesn't appear p to the folks they are looking at it a serious crack at it at all. >> let me respond to that wonderful analogy, which is to say you can't expect people to negotiate against themselves. i think lots of democrats on the hill felt that in the past president obama has negotiated with himself rather than forced the republicans to come forward with their own deal, and republicans have yet to come forward with a deal. martha: that's a fair point. >> what the president's staff said yesterday, was, you know the president has already had a trillion dollars in cuts made under his terms. he wants to see from the republicans if they are willing to do something significant in terms of those revenue
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increases. we had the broad outlines of a possible deal, because what speaker of the house john boehner said he wants in the neighborhood of 400 billion. obama is asking for 1.6 trillion. you can see somewhere in the middle as a possible negotiating or compromise point. >> we should remind everybody the president has been talking about entitlement reform for four years. "the washington post" reminded them this might ab good time to lead because you're the president. martha: it feels like there is a real opportunity here for some history-making leadership and we'll see if we get it. thank you so much. mary catherine, juan. >> go dogs. bill: here is jon sko*t. "happening nowscott, "happening now" now rolls your way. jon: we are awaiting comments from president obama on the so-called fiscal cliff, the president unveiling his bid in
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negotiations over the deal. republicans not impressed. in fact they are darn bad. we'll get into that. plus, planning on being a couch potato this weekend? you might want to hear about a new study first, could your couch be making you sick? a new leader from mexico but some of the same old problems, violence on the border, any new answers? coming up on "happening now."
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bill: you can get that song on eight track, martha. martha: it's available at your local garage now. bill: have you heard from nasa discovered? on the planet mercury, closes to the sun, 800 degrees fahrenheit,
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we are here to talk about. this corey good morning to you. they have found what they believe is ice. >> ice and organic material, basically like tarballs on mercury. bill: that is extraordinary. >> it's bizarre. >> this is the planet that is as close as it gets to the sun. >> this is the planet that is baking. bill: the graphic on the screen, everything you see in yellow is where they believe there are ice or ice caps, explain that. >> the evidence is now really good. at the north pole of mercury there are craters that are always in shadow, and more cue rehas no atmosphere, so it can be 800 degrees in one spot and then you go into the shade and it's 300 below zero. >> everything that is yellow on that green is a giant crater. >> everything in yellow is a giant crater full of ice. bill: how deep would that be if there is never sunshine, it's always in shadow. >> the incredible thing, even if you're just ten feet out of the sun the temperature can be
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300 degrees below zero while it's baking ten feet away. these places because they are always shadowed are like deep freezers. anything that falls in there gets frozen and stays there. what they think happen is million 4s of years ago come et cetera struck mercury. though sraeup rides went int they vapor riced, and they side. people were doing studies with radar and ice reflects radar very differently with rock. it showed up on the radar, ice on mercury, that's weird that can't be right. they sent a spacecraft to look and there it is. bill: why does this matter. >> it tells you that ice and organic chemicals are everywhere through the solar system. the stuff that has landed on mercury, that stuff has landed on earth, that may have started life here. it is landing all around us. the ingredients for life are
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there. if you want to send a spacecraft you have water, chemicals, you can refuel, you can do oxygen. it will be great for private space exploration. bill: road trip. martha: exactly. bill: corey powell. martha: we'll have more in a moment. we'll be right back. ball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america
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